Notes from a journal -

Calliope 17th,

	My name is Jason Hubert, Sergeant First Class of the Military of Joramar. I write this with the hope our story will not be forgotten. In all likelyhood, the inhabitants of Terrenea will be extinct by year's end. 
	The war started thirty-two years ago. A race of aliens, Karnal's we've come to call them...arrived on Terrenae unannounced, undetected. At first, Terrenaen's tried to welcome them.
	They refused. 
	Days after their arrival, they claimed the planet as their own, and attacked. The remainder of their orbital ships came to deploy their armies. We fought back, but we were completely outnumbered. The sheer size of their military force was more than enough to take our entire planet off guard. Within the first year, they had already occupied several countries.
	Few countries remain under their own control now. We did what we could to work together to hold back the Karnal military. Until recently, my country, Joramar, had been the largest resistance against the Karnal threat. As such, most of the Karnal's efforts have been focused on us, and we are losing ground quickly. I fear that we will lose it all within the next few months.
	They take no prisoners, they show no mercy. They are brutal, and they are cunning. Physically, they vary in size depending on their role in the battlefield. From what we can tell, the small ones, few in number but extremely quick and highly intelligent, are their scouts and infiltrators. The larger ones make the bulk of their military. Tactically, all Karnals seem to be of one mind. They are flawless in their execution of battle plans. Our only saving grace is their weaponry is of similar strength to our own.
	We have lost contact with the other remaining countries. We are alone now. In my opinion, once we are gone, the rest of the world will follow soon, if they have not already. Unless something drastic happens to change the tide, our race will be extinct by year's end. I pray that such a miracle occurs soon, before all hope is lost.

	Jason Hubert
	Sergeant First Class – Beta Team

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Vharius 23rd,

	I start my first command tomorrow. After my CO was killed during a skirmish three weeks ago, my apparent “leadership skills” came through when I was able to get his body and the rest of the team out of harm's way. My team was split up except for my long time friend, Gunner Harris. 
	According to Gunner's file, he has scored highest on record for accuracy and speed with both small and medium firearms. Being an otter, he's not exactly built for heavy arms, but still scored among the best.
	We were in school together. School was...hard, I guess. Classes consisted of survival tactics mostly. How to know what plants to eat, what birds offer the best meat in the wild, use of firearms and various small hand-to-hand weaponry...I prefer dual Tanto, personally. Small enough to carry in the body armor, but large enough to be effective in melee.
	They would occasionally squeeze some math in, and a little bit of history, some basic mechanical studies... Unless you were selected for special training in a particular field, you were given basic training in anything that might be used to keep you alive. School is nothing like what my parents told me about their days in school. Recess and lunch hour consisted of playing on the jungle gym when younger, or flirting with the opposite sex during the later years. For me and Gunner, even lunch was a challenge. If we didn't grow the food or raise the fowl ourselves, you had to beg or trade with those who did and hope they were feeling generous.
	But I'm off topic... Aside from Gunner, I've been assigned two others to my command. The first, Rally Arxus. Engineer, mechanic, inventor, and tactical advisor. According to his file, he is best known for being the inventor of fully functional mechanical limbs. Thanks to him, those who have lost a leg or or arm and wish to get back into the fight are able to do so without hinderance, after about six months of rehab. Unfortunately, the technology is only a few years old so mechanics for them are in short supply. Rally has been assigned to my squad partially to be our mechanic if something goes wrong with our body armor, and to maintain the artificial limbs of those at our base of operations.
	The other is Oaklan. Oddly, his file only had the one name. He's both our medic and our scout. He graduated from med school just months before Descension Day. When the war started, he was then trained in field medicine, and was found to have an aptitude for a sniper rifle, and surprisingly, explosives. I guess taking chemistry in med school had its benefits after the war began.
	All in all, I think we have a pretty well rounded team. I just hope my supposed leadership skills live up to expectations. I meet with the other two tomorrow before we're sent out on patrol. I can't lie, I'm nervous...

End of entry